Department of Housing and Works executive director Greg Joyce called
the findings an insult and a racial slur on the 400 people who worked on
Homeswest's "front line".

"In practice, positive discrimination has led to a situation where
Aboriginal tenancies accumulate up to seven times the (rent) arrears, six
times more tenant-caused damage and twice the amount of maintenance
expenditure as non-Aboriginal tenancies," Mr Joyce said.

"They think the properties do belong to them," the officer said. "They
say, 'I want a nice person for this property', (which means) that kind of
rules out the next Aboriginal person on the list."

Associate professor Ted Wilkes, an indigenous health advocate who
helped run the inquiry's reference committee, said aspects of the report
were devastating.

He said the poor standard of housing for many rural Aborigines did not
appear to have improved since he conducted a sample study 10 years ago.

"I've actually lived in a Homeswest house . . . and there is racism in
the way services are delivered to our people – we live it."

The inquiry – the nation's first comprehensive investigation into
alleged racism in housing – began in 2002 when allegations against
Homeswest of discrimination reached 37 per cent of the commission's
workload.

The inquiry was told indigenous families were placed in houses listed
for demolition. A woman with two children was moved into a house infested
with cockroaches, with no gas, no secure doors or windows and water
leaking through electrical fittings.

She was told no repairs could be done because the house was to be
demolished.

The report recommends Homeswest speak with, rather than write to,
Aborigines on important issues such as evictions, since some who were
homeless or had poor literacy were not getting letters or did not
understand the contents.